Azotobacter vinelandii mutants that overproduce poly-?-hydroxybutyrate or alginate

Azotobacter vinelandii produces two polymers of industrial importance, i.e. alginate and poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB). Alginate synthesis constitutes a waste of substrate when seeking to optimize PHB production and, conversely, synthesis of PHB is undesirable when optimizing alginate production. In...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied microbiology and biotechnology 2003-12, Vol.63 (2), p.159-163
Main Authors: Segura, D., Guzm n, J., Esp n, G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Bacteria
Microbiology
Mutation
Polyhydroxybutyrate
Polymers
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Azotobacter vinelandii produces two polymers of industrial importance, i.e. alginate and poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB). Alginate synthesis constitutes a waste of substrate when seeking to optimize PHB production and, conversely, synthesis of PHB is undesirable when optimizing alginate production. In this study we evaluated the effect of a mutation in algA, the gene encoding the enzyme that catalyzes the first step of the alginate biosynthetic pathway in the production of PHB. We also evaluated production of alginate in strain AT6 carrying a phbB mutation that impairs PHB synthesis. The algA mutation prevented alginate production and increased PHB accumulation up to 5-fold, determined in milligrams per milligram of protein. Similarly, the phbB mutation increased alginate production up to 4-fold.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0175-7598
1432-0614
DOI:10.1007/s00253-003-1397-1